Quadra Fire Classic Bay - new here

[Tonyray]

so if my reading is correct the OAK lets more air in which allows me to get a better/hotter fire.

You can't live in a vacuum.. Air has to come back and replace existing air..
[this btw is the short version] . If no OAK, it will pull from cracks,crevices, drafts, vents etc.. anywhere it can..
Pulling air along the floor is good example..
many stove owners said that was Gone after OAK was installed...
Listen,, there are Knowledgable people here who will take the time to give you a more detailed description of HOW OAK WORKS..I'm just throwing in the short version because they will explain in more detail...

 

[skel]

ahhh...makes sense. not sure if i can throw one of those into my order. if im unable to can i always do that after it is installed?

 

[Tonyray]

ahhh...makes sense. not sure if i can throw one of those into my order. if im unable to can i always do that after it is installed?

Yes... Many here got OAK loooong after the stove was Installed...
You need time to get used to it, tweak it [maybe] and yes Play with it..
I Thought OAK was just a tree but my dealer Insisted on it When bought my stove. I know him personally and. I trusted him...
he would not have pushed it just for the sale. He's the owner and Loaded..

 

[Tonyray]

btw: your stove will operate without an OAK so don't want u to get freaked out..
Air needs to be pulled into the stove for better combustion and it will get there With or without an OAK.
I f your house is Not insulated well, then it pulls from the cracks, crevices, a draft here or there etc like I mentioned.
If your house is well insulated and tight as a baby's you know what, then the stove will Pull The existing air in your house.
This existing air is the Same air you just paid to heat with pellets and that is one of the main reasons that people install an OAK to pull Fresh Outside Air in..
Also explains the "drafty feel along the floor in some instances.
Air being pulled into the stove...

 

[skel]

makes sense to me. Turns out those have to be ordered so it looks like i will be putting one in after the stove is installed.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Congrats on picking two fine stoves! Not everyone needs a Harmoan. You'll find they are easy to care for and simple to operate. Yes, keep them clean!
The only major adjustment is the feed rate, which you adjust with a slide valve attached to a handle that is held in place with a wing nut. Dump in your pellets, start it up on HIGH, and wait for things to stabilize. You'll have to push reset a few times (every minute or two) until it's dropping pellets. Once stabilized you'll see the flame go up and down as a new batch of pellets is dropped. What you are shooting for is a flame about 4-6 " high at the average and close to max. If it's too high, push the adjustment down about 1/4" and WAIT for about 20 minutes for the auger to be filled with the new volume of pellets. Keep adjusting until you get the height close. That is it. NOTE> You WILL have to readjust if you see pellet length change, you buy a different brand of pellets or a new lot of the same brand. Since this is your ONLY adjustment, that isn't asking too much.

As for cleaning, follow the manual. Also, get a .38 caliber bore brush at WalMart and bend the shaft a little. There are 8 small holes at the very bottom of the burn pot. Find them before you start burning so you know where they are. 4 at the bottom of the sloped part and 4 at the bottom front. Also, find the slit in the front of the pot part way up. This is where the hot air is drawn from the igniter. Brush it open at the same time. These holes are what keeps you burning like a blow torch. Open them up every time you stop to clean out the ashes. 5 minutes of cleaning and you're ready to go again but wait before starting to clean because that pot is HOT!

Also, you might find it difficult to pull the dump handle for the burn pot. This is a common problem. All you need to do is pull out the ash pan and lay down and look at the bottom of the burn pot. On the left you'll see the pivot point for the dump valve. Take a wrench and slightly loosen the nut to allow the valve to move more easily. Not too much though. You don't want the side opposite the pivot to hang down with a gap greater than the thickness of a dime. Even that is more than you need. When you are cleaning the surface of the dump valve, you'll find an old wood chisel works great to break up any crust. Just push down and twist it.

Are you venting straight out the walls or going up?

 

[skel]

going straight out the back..i guess that would have been good to include in my sig? and are the quads i purchased honestly good stoves? the salesman was telling me they were but i thought he was trying to push the price on me and my wife wanted to get on with our day so i gave in.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Yes, they are very good, reliable stoves. Many people here (except for the Harmoan devotees) have them and enjoy them. All stoves have problems including H@#$%^s as can be seen from the posts but Quads are simple to work on also and parts are readily available. All of these stoves DO require the owners to have some background in mechanical/electrical knowledge to avoid waiting and paying for service people. I hope this doesn't come as a surprise to you. There is a wealth of knowledge on here available if you need it. Just get to know your stove well enough to describe the symptoms and know what parts we are talking about.

With you venting straight out, cleaning will be much easier than for me with my vertical installs up chimneys.

 

[skel]

my mechanical/electrical knowledge is as you would say sub par, but if find a solution to my problems i'm more often that not able to fix them by my self. Score 1 for reading comprehension.

 

[tjnamtiw]

my mechanical/electrical knowledge is as you would say sub par, but if find a solution to my problems i'm more often that not able to fix them by my self. Score 1 for reading comprehension.

AMEN Reading and watching YouTube can save your butt many times for just about any problem.

 

[hossthehermit]

so if my reading is correct the OAK lets more air in which allows me to get a better/hotter fire.

No, your reading is incorrect .......

 

[hossthehermit]

hi guys,

been reading up on random posts here. Getting two stoves installed on monday quadrafire santa fe & classic bay.

in general is there anything i need to know about stoves? all info will be welcome. in the meanwhile i'll continue to read threads. =)

stay warm

And, by the bye, why would anyone that can't find pellets have two stoves installed ?????????

 

[vinny11950]

Make sure the clearances are adhered to for the venting. Read the manual and make sure the installers follow them. Look at your walls where they will cut the holes for the thimbles and find the studs first, mark them with blue tape. It is better if they can put the thimble between the studs, rather than having the thimble land on a wall stud, having it be cut, and then screwing the thimble on sheetrock only. Also for the wall structure you don't want them cutting studs. They will tell you it is okay, but you still don't want that to happen.

Then there is the vent pipe system. Not all are created equal. some better than others.

And if the stove vents the wrong way, with the prevalent wind against, you may getting the surrounding walls blackened with soot.

You can search those topics here and spend hours reading. Google searches work best, as they all lead to Hearth.com, but they filter the results more accurately.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Make sure the clearances are adhered to for the venting. Read the manual and make sure the installers follow them. Look at your walls where they will cut the holes for the thimbles and find the studs first, mark them with blue tape. It is better if they can put the thimble between the studs, rather than having the thimble land on a wall stud, having it be cut, and then screwing the thimble on sheetrock only. Also for the wall structure you don't want them cutting studs. They will tell you it is okay, but you still don't want that to happen.

Then there is the vent pipe system. Not all are created equal. some better than others.

And if the stove vents the wrong way, with the prevalent wind against, you may getting the surrounding walls blackened with soot.

You can search those topics here and spend hours reading. Google searches work best, as they all lead to Hearth.com, but they filter the results more accurately.

And don't forget there's probably wiring in there too!! ZAP.

 

[vinny11950]

And don't forget there's probably wiring in there too!! ZAP.

Exactly, you don't want them making a problem you have to fix later on, with a 300 lbs. stove in the way no less.

 

[DMKNLD]

going straight out the back..i guess that would have been good to include in my sig? and are the quads i purchased honestly good stoves?.

Welcome to this fine forum, skel ! I think any stove is as good as the owner is willing to invest in the knowledge of how it works, and how to keep it clean. That said "Nothing Burns Like a Quad". Steep learning curve ahead, brother ! As Tonyray said in a prior post, your stoves, and the plethora of internet resources about them, will become your 'cruel mistresses', for at least this burn season, as you figure out how they work and how to get them to function optimally.

With a straight out vent pipe to your termination vents, you want to strongly consider yet another purchase decision, (those will initially seem endless). An Uninterrupted Power Source, or UPS for short (yet another TLA - three letter acronym to learn). The APC company is one maker of UPS systems that have a very loyal following on here, which run your stove on battery power (for mins to hours, depending on the battery capabilities) in the event of a power failure, until the firebox can be cleared of smoke and the stove can shut down on its own.

This prevents your house from filling with smoke if the power shuts off when the combustion / exhaust blower is running. Other folks add a 5' or so vertical section of vent piping, usually above a clean-out 90 degree T, to aid in the natural draft effect.

But if your vent is on the prevailing storm / wind direction side of your house, even the natural draft created by a vertical pipe section can still back draft smoke into the house if the wind is strong enough when the power fails. So a UPS, IMO, is the better way to go, which can also provide critical surge protection for your sensitive and $$$$ control boxes, particularly if you live in any area prone to power surges and line voltage fluctuations.

Don't forget your safety equipment needs as well (my paramedic / emergency services side talking here), ie smoke detectors with dual sensor photo-voltaic / ionization sensing ability (alerts to both smoldering and high flame fires), and CO detectors. No detectors out there yet that do all 3 things, so you'll need a separate CO detector.
A fire extinguisher is also a must have - not too close to the stove that you would have to run into a smokey room to fight the stove fire with it.

We can talk later about your stove cleaning kit needs, which you may have some of that already laying around or that comes with your stove.

Some good self-help videos here, put out by Quadra- Fire, to supplement your owners manuals. (broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Owner-Resources/Use-and-Care-Videos/Classic-Bay-1200-Pellet-Stove.aspx) , (broken link removed to http://www.quadrafire.com/Owner-Resources/Use-and-Care-Videos/Santa-Fe-Pellet-Stove.aspx)

Last thought, for now at least, is to include your stove make and model in your thread postings, to better catch the eye of the Quad folks who can often most help you. 30 - 50 new thread posts every day makes it tough to read and keep up with all of them !

Happy reading, (and viewing), towards the goal of happy burning for you soon !

 

[TimfromMA]

The bright orange thing inside your stove is called fire. Don't touch it because it quite hot.

 

[Papelletman]

Welcome to the forum....Do yourself a favor and tell them that you want the oak installed when they do the installs!!

 

[Tonyray]

Welcome to the forum....Do yourself a favor and tell them that you want the oak installed when they do the installs!!

YES........

 

[skel]

Called on Friday can't have the oak installed as it would have to be ordered. Actually ended up finding a bunch of pellets (stove chow) over the weekend. And now the countdown begins as they should be here within the next 2 hours. I did make a note that fire.... hot..ouch.

 

[Papelletman]

I would have told them to wait until they had the oak's to do the install...Remember the customer is always right, especially when buying 2 stoves!

 

[bags]

Congrats on picking two fine stoves! Not everyone needs a Harmoan. You'll find they are easy to care for and simple to operate. Yes, keep them clean!

Somehow I knew you would surface and fire a few shots. LOL! Now return to the depths Bubblehead! Ya gotcha a new Quad buddy who went big on the purchase plan with dos of those babies! That was a double tap!

skel, There are many good Quad owners here so you are in good hands. Watch out for TJ because you'll want to burn coal soon enough. Hanging with him might cost ya! Nah, You'll love the Quads and pellets. Enjoy and Welcome!

And to end with a little Harman Love,,,,,

adjust with a slide valve attached to a handle that is held in place with a wing nut. Dump in your pellets, start it up on HIGH, and wait for things to stabilize. You'll have to push reset a few times (every minute or two) until it's dropping pellets. Once stabilized you'll see the flame go up and down as a new batch of pellets is dropped. What you are shooting for is a flame about 4-6 " high at the average and close to max. If it's too high, push the adjustment down about 1/4" and WAIT for about 20 minutes for the auger to be filled with the new volume of pellets. Keep adjusting until you get the height close. That is it. NOTE> You WILL have to readjust if you see pellet length change, you buy a different brand of pellets or a new lot of the same brand. Since this is your ONLY adjustment,

you might find it difficult to pull the dump handle for the burn pot. This is a common problem. All you need to do is pull out the ash pan and lay down and look at the bottom of the burn pot. On the left you'll see the pivot point for the dump valve. Take a wrench and slightly loosen the nut to allow the valve to move more easily. Not too much though. You don't want the side opposite the pivot to hang down with a gap greater than the thickness of a dime. Even that is more than you need. When you are cleaning the surface of the dump valve,

There ya go speaking Greek. Us Harman Hype-sters haven't a clue. LOL! My stove only runs on cruise control..... Touche' LOL!

 

[tjnamtiw]

Bags, I like skel because, like me, he realized a good stove and a good bargain and bought TWO QUADS for the price of one hormoan. And he only has one adjustment to worry about.
If he lived in the land of coal and had common sense, he'd have ONE coal stoker and be warmer than two Quads OR Harmen would make him! Double

 

[skel]

how do I put a picture of my stove on here?

 

[vinny11950]

In the Reply box at the bottom of the page, there is a button "More Options". Hit that and it will take you to a window with more options. Look for the square Icon of Mountains in the middle right, next to Happy Face. This will let you path to where your image is saved.

We love pictures here, thanks for sharing.

Hope it all went well.